LA Times Front Page Shocker: Paper Heralds Trump’s “Golden Age” Inauguration Remarks
I have been following the developments at the Los Angeles Times since President Donald Trump was successfully elected to his second term.
Legal Insurrection readers may recall that some of the editors at the Los Angeles Times resigned after its owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, would not allow the newspaper to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Soon-Shiong had become enormously concerned about his paper’s journalistic credibility and fired his editorial board. Subsequently, he hired the unflappable conservative analyst Scott Jennings to be part of a new editorial board that would strive to meet the new vision for the paper: To be fair and balanced.
In the wake of the Greater Los Angeles wildfires, Soon-Shiong expressed his deep regret that the Los Angeles Times endorsed the hapless and incompetent Karen Bass for Mayor while ignoring Republican choice Rick Caruso (who had the foresight to arrange for private firefighters and saved his Pacific Palisades properties).
In that piece, I asked Soon-Shiong to free his publication from ideological capture, as it would be better for Los Angeles, California, and the nation.
As I noted in my piece: Sometimes, the converts are the most active and effective persuaders.
To my delight, Soon-Shiong has been listening to those of us who have made him aware of the deep ideological bias permeating his newspaper. This was today’s headline, which he proudly displayed on X.com:
The reporting on the inauguration is a bit slanted, but not as steeply as it may have been in the past….because at least the snark wasn’t in the lede.
President Trump’s second inaugural address featured similar themes to his first: a sweeping indictment of the country he inherits and grand promises to fix its problems.Eight years ago, Trump described “American carnage” and promised to end it immediately. On Monday, he declared that the country’s “decline” would end immediately, ushering in “the golden age of America.”Trump added a long list of policies that sounded more like a State of the Union speech than an Inauguration Day speech. But the broad themes were fundamentally Trumpian, in which he set himself up as a national savior.
Many potential readers are delighted by the change in tone.
And while I think it’s not going to be a problem in the foreseeable future, the change is so great that Soon-Shiong is getting warnings not to go overboard.
I applaud Soon-Shiong for the first truly visible sign that the Los Angeles Times is being freed from ideological capture. Now all his editorial team has to do is expand the new vibe beyond the front page.
I look forward to reporting what the Los Angeles Times has to say about President Trump’s visit later this week.
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